God provides the basics  This theme is important to the passage (vv. 25-26, 28-30). Jesus twice uses a standard type of Jewish argument traditionally called qal wahomer – “how much more?” (vv. 26, 30). If God cares for birds and for perishable flowers, how much more for his own beloved children?

The objects of our anxiety, food and drink, are to be seen as less important than the life and the body which they supply, and subsequent verses will draw out the moral that, since God provides the latter, he can be trusted for the former. If God sustains life and protects the bodies of those who serve him, they should not complain if he provides for those things without giving a nod to the symbols of status that the culture ordains. If God provides for the birds and flowers, how much more will he provide for his children?

The first of the concerns mentioned in food (v.25) and is addressed by means of an illustration from nature. The birds do not sow or reap, but they have to spend a lot of energy in hunting or searching for their food, but the point is that it is there to be found. What is prohibited is worry, not work. God provides.

The second illustration from nature is even more far-reaching, in that not only are wild flowers more passive than birds, yet here we are not concerned with their survival (grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow – v.30), but their magnificence – beyond the best that human art can achieve.  God lavishes upon them a craftsman’s care that is the envy of kings. Yet their destiny is the cooking stoves as fuel – a somewhat ignoble end to such art. Human beings are the capstone of God’s creation and God has lavished upon us the imago Dei. Such art work has not an ignoble end, but is destined, in faith, to the kingdom of heaven – those who embrace a practical trust in God’s providence. Those who will not embrace such a trust are oligopistoi – literally “of little faith.”

Seek the Kingdom  ³³ But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. ³⁴ Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.

The de facto people of little faith – the pagans of v.32 – seek after (epizētéō) anxiously the things of the world. People of faith are also to seek (zētéō) but the object of their seeking is far different. They seek the kingdom of God and righteousness – both key themes throughout the Sermon on the Mount. Both these terms represent the distinctive lifestyle of the disciples – something they do and something for which they “hunger and thirst” (5:6). The disciple’s deepest desire and resolve must be to live in God’s ways.

The closing verse (v.34) reminds the audience that needless anxiety is just that needless – God provides for the things that you need (not “wants”). But as we have already mentioned, Scripture admonishes believers to plan and provide for tomorrow. We are called to do what is ours to do and not idly wait for God to deliver all our needs. Sufficient for a day is its own evil. All are cautioned that to live only for today – an attitude condemned by Paul in 1 Cor 15:32 (cf. Is 22:13, 56:12) – is hardly the intent of the passage. Rather than “Live, Eat, Pray” perhaps we can say, “Trust, No Worries, Do What is Yours to Do.”

The challenges of the Sermon These words are directed to the believers – believers who may well be anxious about trying to live the demands of the Sermon on the Mount. For ages the Church has struggled with these passages in discerning what it means to be faithful disciples in an increasingly materialistic world. As the General Minister of the OFM, Giacomo Benni (1998-2004) once remarked, the friars must be men who live their lives of poverty, chastity and obedience in the world in a manner that is relevant to others, and not simply a passing curiosity. The disciples of every age face the same dilemma in balancing trust and using the talents/gifts God gave us. Even in our age when our trust is hesitant and needs reassurance these verses are reminders that God provides.

Matthew 6:24 serve: The word translated “serve” is not the usual word for serve (diakoneo), but douleúō which means to “be a slave.” The word always connotes compulsory service and dependence upon the master/lord. The grammar here is the continuous present implying that one might be able to serve two masters for a short stint, but in the long run, it will not work. masters: kyrios which also is translated as “Lord.” hate…love…devoted…despise: The use of the polar opposites “hate” and “love” reflects a Semitic idiom that should not be pressed unduly (cf. Luke 14:26). The sense is not active dislike but rather a displacement by a higher loyalty. Here is the rival is mammon. mammon: Aramaic māmōnā’, which means essentially ‘possessions’. While it sometimes carried the connotation of wealth wrongly acquired, this is usually indicated in the Targums by the addition of dišĕqar (‘of falsehood’; cf. Luke 16:9, 11). Māmōnā’ alone is more neutral, as in the Targum to Proverbs 3:9, ‘Honor God with your mammon’ or even the Palestinian Targums to Deuteronomy 6:5, ‘You shall love Yahweh your God with … all your mammon’. The same neutral connotation is found in the Mishnah. The rival loyalty then is not that of ill-gotten gains, but of material possessions however legitimate. They can be used to serve God, but they can also themselves claim a man’s allegiance. Mammon thus here represents the principle of materialism, and this is in direct conflict with loyalty to God.

Matthew 6:25 anxiety: merimnaō (‘to be anxious’) refers to a state of mind. The range of the use of the word is similar to the span in the English word “care:” (a) “to care for someone or something,” (b) “to be concerned or anxious,” (c) “to be intent on or strive after,” (d) “to be anxiously expectant,” (e) “to be solicitous,” and (f) “to brood, speculate, or inquire.” [TDNT]

Matthew 6:26 birds in the sky: Some other Jewish teachers also recognized that God provides for creatures (Ps 104:24-27) and that people are worth much more than birds (m. Qiddusin 4:14). For similar lessons from nature see Job 12:7-10; Prov 6:6-11; Jer 8:7.  do not sow or reap, they gather nothing: This is not a charter for laziness. The argument is a fortiori: if God provides for you, how much more for you. That humans are more important echoes the pattern of Genesis’ creation narrative where in humans constitute the final and climatic act of creation and are given authority over the other animals, even their naming.  yet your heavenly Father feeds them: this should be understood as “provides.” As Martin Luther wrote, God provides for the birds, he does not drop food into their beaks.

Matthew 6:27 add a single moment to your life-span: The Greek hēlikía means “age” or “stature” but in context is well translated as life span. The “moment” (pēchys, literally, a measurement from the tip of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger) was considered a small measure. The point being worry cannot extend life beyond the allotted time. Some suggest that since hēlikía can mean “stature” and that pēchys is actually a measurement of length that Jesus is referring to height. Doubtful given the context.

Matthew 6:30 thrown into the oven tomorrow: wild flowers provided a regular fuel for the klibanos, a domestic oven for cooking food. of little faith: except for the parallel in Luke 12:28, the word translated of little faith (oligopistoi) is found in the New Testament only in Matthew. It is used by him of those who are disciples of Jesus but whose faith in him is not as deep as it should be (see Matthew 8:26; 14:31; 16:8 and the cognate noun in Matthew 17:20).

Matthew 6:32 pagans: the word is ethnos which means nations or the gentiles. The translation of pagan (from the Latin paganus meaning people of the country side, as in, not city dwellers) is somewhat anachronistic from an later age of Christianity.

Matthew 6:33 seek: the verb seek (zētéō) echoes the compound verb epizētéō which was used for the Gentile’s anxious quest for material provisions in v.32.

• G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic; Apollos, 2007) 29-30
• Eugene Boring, The Gospel of Matthew in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. VIII (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1994) 208-11
• Warren Carter, Matthew and the Margins: A Sociopolitical and Religious Reading (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Book, 2000) 174-79
• R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew in the New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman’s Publishing, 2007) 256-72
• R.T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary in the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Vol. 1, ed. Leon Morris (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989) 143-46
• Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1 of Sacra Pagina, ed. Daniel J. Harrington (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1991) 100-106
• Daniel J. Harrington, “Matthew” in The Collegeville Bible Commentary, eds. Diane Bergant and Robert J. Karris (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1989) 871
• Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman’s Publishing, 2009) 233-38
• John P. Meier, Matthew, New Testament Message 3 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1990) 64-67
• D. Turner and D.L. Bock, Matthew and Mark in the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, vol. 11 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005) 105-9

Dictionaries  Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich and Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1995)

Scripture The New American Bible /nab/bible/index.shtml